A US Man Was Arrested & Accused Of Sending Dozens Of Poop-Filled Letters To Politicians
Some of the letters were actually delivered 😬
A man at the U.S. Postal Service. Right: A person mailing a letter.
A former court employee in Ohio is accused of dropping about three dozen poop-filled packages in the mail in a crappy campaign that allegedly targeted Republican lawmakers across the U.S.
Richard Steinle, 77, a former Portage County Common Pleas Court mediator, was arrested Friday on federal charges of sending "injurious articles as nonmailable," according to court records obtained by the Associated Press.
He faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine if found guilty.
The alleged mailing scheme came to light last month when U.S. Postal Service workers noticed something off about a few letters in the system.
You can probably guess what it was they noticed.
Investigators started looking into the case and they identified roughly 36 poop-filled letters, including some sent as early as August 2021.
The suspect's feces-filled mail reached elected Republican officials around the country, including in Kentucky, Ohio, Washington D.C., and California, according to court records. Mailroom employees also sniffed out and stopped about 25 of the letters before they reached their targets, per AP.
According to court documents, the letters weren't just stuffed with poop. They also contained words like "pig" and "racist" and had a fake return address.
A court employee tipped off the authorities to the scheme, and investigators say they caught the suspect mailing a letter while wearing a glove. They recovered that letter and found feces inside, court records show.
It's unclear whether the poop was from a human or an animal.
Ohio GOP Senate spokesperson John Fortney condemned the letter campaign in a statement.
"This type of biohazard attack doesn't just stop with the people it's directed towards," Fortney told AP.
"This is something that could potentially affect every single employee at the Ohio Statehouse, regardless of their political affiliation."
Steinle was released on a $20,000 bond and is due back in court on August 25.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.